用法学习: 1. a silence/hush falls mainly literary used for saying that a group of people suddenly become quiet. a deafening silence a serious failure to say or do something in reaction to a request or action. All their appeals for help met with a deafening silence. observe a silence 默哀 to be silent for a particular time in order to show your respect for someone or something. A minute's silence was observed in his memory. conspiracy of silence an agreement between people to keep secret facts that should be publicly known. shatter the peace/silence(break the silence 打破沉默) to suddenly make a lot of noise in a place that has been very quiet. A loud bang suddenly shattered the silence. swear someone to secrecy/silence to make someone promise not to tell anyone else what you have told them. I can't tell you – I've been sworn to secrecy. 2. go sideways verb to become worse. Things have gone sideways. Dont go sideways on me. 关于honor killing的发言引起的争议: The public face of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir says "hysteria" has won out( win out = win through to succeed after great difficulty. It was a struggle, but truth won out in the end. ) after the Sydney Opera House backflipped毁约 on plans for a public talk on honour killings. His tweeted response to one critic who wrote, "Any one who condones( condone [kənˈdəun] to approve of behaviour that most people think is wrong. The school does not condone bullying of any kind. ) or justifies the murder of defenceless women is a gutless ( [ˈɡʌtləs] not at all brave or determined. ) creep", was: "I'm with you on that. Calm down." "Overwhelmingly, those who condemn honour killings are based in the liberal democracies of the West," a blurb(/blɜː(r)b/ information printed on the outside of something, especially something for sale such as a book, to describe it or make it attractive to buy.) for Mr Badar's event had read. "The accuser and moral judge is the secular ( secular 世俗的 [ˈsekjulə(r)] not religious, or not connected with religion. He was the first of the country's secular rulers. religious and secular matters. ) (white) westerner and the accused is the oriental other; the powerful condemn the powerless." "I anticipated that secular liberal Islamophobes would come out of every dark corner, foaming at the mouth嘴里冒着白沫, 滔滔不绝的, furious at why a Muslim 'extremist', from Hizb ut-Tahrir no less, was being allowed a platform at the Sydney Opera House to speak," he wrote in a Facebook post. "What's interesting is that I'm being attacked left, right and centre被攻击的体无完肤 without having opened my mouth yet."
Madonna's new toyboy wearing a beret: beret uk [ˈbereɪ] us&au [bəˈreɪ] a round flat soft hat that fits tightly round the top of the head. A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Two years ago she spoke about her love for Zaibat, saying she doesn't deliberately 故意, 专门 choose men who are younger than her. "I didn't choose to, you know, I didn't, like, write down on a piece of paper, "I' m now going to have a relationship with a younger man," she said. "That's just what happened. You see, that's the romantic in me. I just met someone that I cared for, and this happened to be his age." "I don't want to live my life on my own. I love being a mother. My children fill me up in many ways, and inspire me in many ways, but I need a partner in my life and I think most people feel that way," she said. Brazilian actress Catharina Franca, 18, said she was stunned when she heard the pair had got together, and suggested Madonna may be trying to make ex-husband Guy Ritchie jealous. "I think the age makes a difference and it is ridiculous for her. It's like my mum with a boyfriend my age, or even my grandmother. I think it's very weird. "She is a ridiculous old bag 老女人( an ugly or ill-tempered woman; "he was romancing the old bag for her money".), jumping around on stage at her age. "I think she has some kind of an age complex, she still thinks she is a young woman, she can't accept her age. I can't remember him ever speaking about her or listening to her music. She is famous but she is from a different generation altogether." "Jesus needs to think very well what he is going to do afterwards because she will find another toy boy. I think he could get very hurt because he is the kind of guy who gets very involved emotionally." Silvia Freitas, 40, his former science teacher, said it will help his career. "I think that for him to go out with that person is an aberration( aberration [ˌæbəˈreɪʃ(ə)n] I. something that is not normal or not what you would usually expect. a genetic aberration. II. a short time when someone behaves in a very strange or careless way. aberrant [æˈberənt] not normal or not what you would usually expect. ). There's nothing normal in that," she said. "But I think Jesus is in the right. I'm thrilled for him and the opportunities that this will open up for him. It's she who is in the wrong. "She should know better. It's like she came to Brazil and chose a good-looking boy as a souvenir and took it home."
新闻: fetishist [ˈfetɪʃɪst] 恋物癖 someone who has a sexual fetish. fetish [ˈfetɪʃ] I. an unusual sexual interest in a particular object or material. a foot/shoe/rubber fetish. a. something that someone enjoys a lot, in a way that is unusual or unreasonable. an exercise fetish. II. an object believed to be magic or holy and worshipped by people. 新闻故事: A foot fetishist charged with having sex with underage girls on camera says she hopes her porn career can survive the scandal. Bianca Byndloss, 19, was released on bail after allegedly procuring three girls aged 12, 13 and 14 for a sex party with two other men, the Miami Herald reports. Police claim Byndloss drove the girls to the Miami home of 18-year-old Christian Hernandez last Wednesday and had group sex while being filmed by Bryan Yanes, also 18. The video, which is said to show the girls willingly performing oral sex on each other, was uploaded to the internet. Blyndoss, a self-described "porn diva", took to social media upon her release to post a series of bizarre messages. "I pray every day I will be able to smell the roses ( stop and/to smell the roses 停下脚步, 享受生活 (idiomatic) To relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life. ) and breath the lovely air and get to see the beauty in the sky every day of my life," another post read. "God knows I'm humble. I'm loving and caring ... fun leads to trouble just live and learn." Blyndoss and Hernandez face charges of "lewd and lascivious ( [ləˈsɪviəs] sexually interested or active in an unpleasant and unwelcome way. ) battery of a minor" and "promoting sexual performance of a child". Yates has been charged with "lewd and lascivious battery of a minor".
图钉, 按钉的说法(thumb tack, push pin, drawing pin, map pin/tack; snap fastener = press stud 按扣, 摁扣; BrE用popper. ): A thumb tack or push pin is a short nail or pin used to fasten items to a wall or board for display and intended to be inserted by hand, generally without the assistance of tools. A variety of names are used to refer to different designs intended for various purpose. Thumb tack and push pin are both sometimes compounded (thumbtack or pushpin) or hyphenated (thumb-tack or push-pin). Thumb tacks made of brass, tin or iron may be referred to as brass tacks, brass pins, tin tacks or iron tacks, respectively. These terms are particularly used in the idiomatic expression to come (or get) down to brass (or otherwise) tacks( get down to brass tacks(nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts) (idiomatic) Deal with the important details. ), meaning to consider basic facts of a situation. Drawing pin or drawing-pin refers to thumb tacks used to hold drawings on drawing boards. Map pin or map tack refers to thumb tacks used to mark locations on a map and to hold the map in place.
Clover Moore accused of hating democracy during City of Sydney debate over business votes: Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been accused of hating democracy during a heated debate about forcing businesses to vote in City of Sydney elections. The proposal could undermine the mayor and on Monday night it set off 引发 recriminations( recrimination [rɪˌkrɪmɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n] I. [uncountable] 互相指责. 唇枪舌剑. a situation in which people are accusing or criticizing each other. Attempts to end years of bitter recrimination. a. [countable] [usually plural] 反驳. a statement accusing or criticizing someone who has accused or criticized you. No marriage could survive such harsh words and recriminations.), a walk-out and the shutdown of a heated council meeting. A state Parliament inquiry floated the proposal, which would force the council to adopt a model similar to Melbourne's, under which businesses are required to vote in council elections. "You hate democracy, don't you," Liberal councillor Edward Mandla asked Cr Moore, before accusing her of being party to ( be (a) party to sth 参与, 卷入, 牵扯进 to be involved in something, especially something bad. Be involved in: he was party to some very shady deals;) an "elaborate scheme to silence the business vote". The proposal is widely interpreted广泛解读为 to threaten Cr Moore's political stronghold by flooding elections with tens of thousands of new voters, whom many reckon are likely to be more conservative than those who have elected her for three terms. Currently businesses vote voluntarily but critics say their participation is low and is discouraged by an unwieldy system 繁琐的系统, 尾大不掉的 of enrolment. The Lord Mayor has instead proposed backing more modest reforms that would simplify the voting act简化投票程序 and create a roll for business voters without making them vote不用强迫他们投票. Each side accused the other of advocating an electoral system that would advantage their own interests为自己谋利 before Cr Moore adjourned the debate because she claimed it had become disorderly没有秩序的. One councillor later stormed out. Mr Mandla again called the Lord Mayor a "democracy hater". (In a later debate about renewable energy可再生能源, he threatened to make council wear its policy as a "crown of thorns"(According to the biblical Gospels a woven crown of thorns 荆棘冠 was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to the his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock嘲讽 his claim of authority.) on which it would be "ultimately crucified钉上十字架" at the 2016 election). These interjections prompted a stand-off between(interjection [ˌɪntə(r)ˈdʒekʃ(ə)n] I. [countable] linguistics 感叹词. a word or phrase used for expressing a strong emotion such as surprise or anger. 'Oh' and 'ouch' are interjections. II. [countable/uncountable] formal 插入. 插话. 插曲. something that someone suddenly says that interrupts someone else who is speaking, or the act of interrupting someone. ) the Lord Mayor and Liberal councillor Christine Forster, who tried to move a motion of dissent against Cr Moore. Cr Moore in turn adjourned the meeting( adjourn I. to temporarily end something such as a meeting or a trial. The trial was adjourned until Monday. adjourn to something转移到 to leave one place and move to another. Let's adjourn to the bar.) for 15 minutes, claiming it had become disorderly. Tensions flared almost immediately upon the councillors' return. "I'm going to leave the room because this is not how democracy operates," councillor Angela Vithoulkas said, who stormed out of the room before Cr Moore's proposals were put to a vote. Ms Vithoulkas was irate ( irate [aɪˈreɪt] very angry. an irate customer. ) because she was not chosen to speak before the floor called for a vote. The state government is considering the proposal for making business voting compulsory. The Lord Mayor says it could lead to 90,000 new votes in City of Sydney elections. About 100,000 people were enrolled to vote at the last election. Only about 1700 businesses voted. The proposal could move responsibility for maintaining the electoral roll from the state Election Funding Authority to the City of Sydney itself. The Lord Mayor argued such a move could threaten the integrity of the election roll. "Corruption might be detected. This may not happen until well after the election has been declared and a council elected through a fraudulent vote has already begun to exercise its power," she said in a Mayoral minute. Under the current system non-residents can choose to vote, but they must re-enrol at each election. The Lord Mayor's proposals to simplify the voting act and create a permanent register of business voters passed despite two objections. The Shooters and Fishers party have said they will introduce legislation in state Parliament in August to make business voting compulsory.
Convince or persuade: is there really a difference? The verbs 'convince' and 'persuade' are very similar in meaning, but there is a difference in how we use them. 用法不同: After 'persuade' we use the structure to + infinitive: I persuaded them to stay for another drink. He persuaded her not to take the job. After 'convince' we cannot use a verb infinitive. We say 'convince someone that, or convince someone of sth': She convinced the police that she was telling the truth. He convinced her that it was the right thing to do. Both of the above sentence would also be correct without 'that': She convinced the police she was telling the truth. He convinced her it was the right thing to do. 意思不同(convince是让某人心里相信, 信服. persuade是说服, 让某人同意.): There can also be a subtle difference in meaning between 'convince' and 'persuade', as seen here: Although Robert finally persuaded his girlfriend to move abroad with him, she was not fully convinced that it was the best thing to do. In the example, Robert's girlfriend was persuaded (to move) but was not convinced (that it was the correct decision). So, we can see that when we persuade someone to do something it doesn't always mean that we have also convinced that person. You convince someone they should believe something, but persuade them to carry out an action
– and he declares it is possible to persuade someone to do something
without convincing them of the correctness or necessity of doing it. 另一个用法: One more thing is worth mentioning about 'persuade' and 'convince'. If we are absolutely sure about something, we say I'm convinced: - Are you sure he's innocent? - Yes, I'm convinced确信无疑. NOT I'm persuaded. 文章: There comes a time when you have to accept that some usages are dying or dead. We should focus our efforts on the living. Last summer Simon Heffer, associate editor of the Daily Telegraph, fired off an email rebuking his colleagues for their linguistic slovenliness ( slovenly [ˈslʌv(ə)nli] 不严谨, 疏忽大意. 不认真, 粗心. careless, or untidy. slovenly habits. a slovenly man. ) and ignorance. He took them to task on a number of counts( count v. I. 计数. 数数. [intransitive/transitive] to calculate how many people or things there are in a group. All the votes have been counted. She put the money in her bag without counting it. At least 60 people were injured, but we're still counting. II. [intransitive] to say numbers one after another in order. count (up) to 数到: I can count up to ten in German. III. 算数. 包括, 计入. [intransitive/transitive] to include something or someone in a calculation, or to be included in a calculation. Points scored after the bell do not count. count towards: Marks for project work count towards your final exam result. count as: Do bank holidays count as part of annual leave? count something as something/be counted as something: For tax purposes, sick pay is counted as income. IV. 算作, 算是. 当做. 被认为是 [intransitive/transitive] to think of someone or something as a particular thing, or to be thought of as a particular thing. count as: That counts as a lie as far as I'm concerned. count something as something/be counted as something: Does geography count as a science subject? count someone as something: Beth had a good voice, but had never counted herself as a real musician. count someone among something: He counts John Lennon among his musical influences. count yourself lucky/fortunate: We can count ourselves lucky that none of us got hurt. V. [intransitive] to be important, or to have influence. You're late, but you're here; and that's what counts. What really counts is whether you have good computing skills. count for something/anything/nothing: They made me feel my views didn't count for anything. and counting 仍在持续增长 spoken used for saying that a number is continuing to increase as time passes. So far we've had over 4,000 calls, and counting. count your blessings to realize that there are good things about your situation, as well as bad ones. This phrase is often used for telling someone that they should not complain. count the cost 计算损失 British to realize what has been lost or damaged as a result of something. The whole town is counting the cost of the bombing today. count the days/hours/minutes etc 数分数秒的 to wait for something that you want very much to happen. I'm counting the days until I see you again. don't count your chickens (before they're hatched) used for telling someone not to make plans that depend on the success of something until they are certain that it is successful. make something count 好好利用, 好好使用, 充分利用 to make something have as useful and positive an effect as possible. You only get one chance, so you have to make it count. who's counting多少个不重要, 管他多少个呢? spoken used for saying that it is not important how many things there are, how many times something happens etc. I've had about ten chocolates already, but who's counting? you can count something on (the fingers of) one hand 一只手就数的过来 spoken used for saying that there are very few things or people of a particular type. n. I. the process of counting how many people or things there are in a group. After the count, Ellison had 25% of the votes. word/head/traffic etc count清点人数, 计数, 数了一下: I did a quick head count and realized Suzie was missing. body count 伤亡人数 the number of people killed in a battle or accident, or the process of counting them. at (the) last count: At the last count, 400 people had agreed to join. a. the total number of people or things counted. My count is 80 – what's yours? II. the process of saying numbers in order, up to a particular number. Hold your breath for a count of ten. III. the amount of a substance that is measured as being present in another substance, for example in your blood or in the air. pollen/sperm/cell etc count数量, 个数: My eyes start to water when the pollen count is high. IV. 个. 起. legal each crime that someone is charged with. Manning was jailed on three counts of corruption. V. Count a nobleman in some European countries, but not in the UK. the Count of Anjou. keep count (of something) to remember or record a number as it changes over a period of time. keep count (of something) of 记下: Try to keep count of how many calories you eat over a week. lose count (of something) 数不过来了, 数不清了 used for emphasizing that something has happened very many times. I've lost count of the number of interviews I've given. on both/several etc counts in both/several etc ways. "She was accused of fraud on a number of counts". I thought he was a kind and honest man – I was wrong on both counts. out for the count unconscious, or sleeping and not likely to wake up. Steve was out for the count, so I answered the phone.), including inconsistencies, malapropisms不恰当应用(malapropism ['mæləprop,ɪz(ə)m] 用词不当, 误用 a word that is used wrongly but sounds like the word that you should have used, especially one that creates a funny change of meaning. ), confused homophones, Americanisms and grammatical errors. Reading his litany ( [ˈlitəni] I. 一长串的. a long, usually boring, list of things that someone talks or writes about. litany of: a depressing litany of complaints. II. a series of prayers in a religious service, usually with a priest saying some parts and the people saying other parts. ) of complaints, my eye was drawn to a paragraph that began: "Sometimes we do not properly think of the sense of what we are writing. There is a marked difference between the meanings of convince and persuade that is not recognised by some of you. If you are unsure of the distinction, look the words up." My first response was embarrassment. If I am honest, the distinction between convince and persuade was not one I had ever thought about. Despite being an enthusiastic devourer of English usage books, I could not recall ever having come across an entry on the "marked difference" between these two verbs. Reading Heffer's pronouncement had a Proust-dipping-his-madeleine-in-tea ( The madeleine (['mædleɪn] or [ˌmædlˈein]) or petite madeleine ([pə,tit mad,lɛn]) is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France. Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions 凹陷. Aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, no special tools are required to make madeleines. 文学应用: In In Search of Lost Time (also known as Remembrance of Things Past), author Marcel Proust uses madeleines to contrast involuntary memory看到某物而联想到某物引起的记忆 with voluntary memory 主动去想而想起的回忆. The latter designates memories retrieved by "intelligence," that is, memories produced by putting conscious effort into remembering events, people, and places. Proust's narrator laments that such memories are inevitably partial, and do not bear the "essence" of the past. The most famous instance of involuntary memory by Proust is known as the "episode of the madeleine," yet there are at least half a dozen other examples in In Search of Lost Time. 原文摘抄: No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate[ˈpælət]触碰到味蕾( palatable /ˈpælətəb(ə)l/ ) than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea. — Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time. 分析: Due to Swann's visit, the Narrator is deprived of his mother's goodnight kiss, but he gets her to spend the night reading to him. This memory is the only one he has of Combray, until years later the taste of a madeleine cake dipped in tea inspires a nostalgic incident of involuntary memory. He remembers having a similar snack as a child with his invalid aunt Leonie, and it leads to more memories of Combray. He describes their servant Françoise, who is uneducated but possesses an earthy wisdom and a strong sense of both duty and tradition.
) impact on me. I was whisked back被带回 to an austere ( austere [ɔ:ˈstɪə(r)] I. plain in style and without decoration. The church is large and austere. II. strict and serious in manner. An austere, silent woman showed him round the small flat.) grammar school classroom where my English teacher, Chalkie White, was handing me back a piece of homework covered in red ballpoint. I had incurred Chalkie's wrath惹的生气了 because I had used the word "simplistic". My sin was twofold: first, I had strayed into the vernacular and returned bearing a non-word; and then I had been foolish enough to use it in a piece of formal writing. Chalkie's response was swift and surgical(surgical spirit 手术用碘酒 a type of alcohol that people use to clean injuries and surgical tools. The American word is rubbing alcohol. surgical strike a military attack, especially by air, that is designed to destroy something specific and to avoid wider damage. ). My original had been obliterated by his red pen, and in the margin were the words: "simplist(simplistic 简化了的 [sɪmˈplɪstɪk] treating something in a way that makes it seem much simpler than it really is. In a manner that simplifies a concept or issue so that its nuance and complexity are lost or important details are overlooked. a simplistic analysis of the issue.), one who gathers herbs – adjective, simplistic". My anecdote ( anecdote [ˈænɪkˌdəut] a story that you tell people about something interesting or funny that has happened to you. Joe kept us entertained with anecdotes about his friends. ) seems quaint( quaint [kweɪnt] interesting or attractive with a slightly strange and old-fashioned quality. ) because nowadays "simplistic" is part of the linguistic furniture(be part of the furniture 稀松平常了, 司空见惯, 太常见了 (informal) if someone or something is part of the furniture in a place, they have been there for so long that they seem to be a natural part of that place I've been working in this office for so long I'm part of the furniture now. (sometimes + of ) He had become part of the furniture of British politics. ). But as a young lad from a modest background struggling to keep my head above water in a grammar school, the incident had a devastating effect on me: for many years, it made me wary of colloquial language – as well as undermining my faith in my own linguistic judgment. In those far-off days (I. far away from you or from a particular place. a far-off land. II. 遥远的时代 happening a long time before or after the present time. in those far-off days of our youth.), linguistic authority was in the hands of a hieratic elite of lexicographers and grammarians whose sacred texts were the Oxford English Dictionary and handbooks of English style and usage. If my definition of "simplistic" was not in the dictionary, it did not exist. (In fact, the OED states that the modern meaning of the word dates back to the 19th century, but at the time of the incident the Concise version did not record this.). This is the line taken by Heffer in his recent book, Strictly English, where he asserts that "rules in language are made by logic, not by a democratic vote". But this view of how language evolves is anachronistic; things have changed a great deal since the prescriptivism of Chalkie White's day. Take a look at these reviews of Heffer's book by a couple of distinguished modern linguists – David Crystal and Geoff Pullum – if you have any doubts. For Heffer, however, language remains the site of a battle between a priestly caste ( caste [kɑ:st] I. [countable/uncountable] one of the traditional social classes that people were born into in Hindu society, or the system of having these classes. II. [countable] a group of people who have the same social or professional status. The Chinese view foreigners as a completely separate caste who require special luxuries. half-caste an offensive word for someone who has one white parent and one black parent. A more polite expression is person of mixed race.) and the barbarians at the gate( The expression "barbarians 野蛮人, 原始人 at the gate" is often used in contemporary English within a sarcastic, or ironic context, when speaking about a perceived threat from a rival group of people, often deemed to be less capable, or somehow "primitive原始的". For example, within the university context, many historians harbour a secret (or not so secret) disdain for the field of political science, as its methodology can be very different than that of history and because some historians feel that the often larger political science departments pose a threat to them. Within such a context, one may say, somewhat sarcastically, that the "barbarians are at the gate." The term "barbarian" was used by the Romans to denote anyone who was different, or who lived outside of the Roman Empire. The expression "barbarians at the gate" was also used by the Romans to describe foreign attacks against their empire. Many Roman cities were surrounded by walls and gates during the fifth century and as such, this expression was also used in a literal sense. ). But is he right to insinuate that ( insinuate [ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt] 暗示 to say something unpleasant in an indirect way. insinuate (that): He even went as far as insinuating that Roger was a liar. insinuate yourself (into something) to get into a situation or position by behaving in a way that is not sincere. Somehow he always manages to insinuate himself into our plans.) journalists who fail to observe the difference between convince and persuade should hang their heads in shame羞愧到自尽? As I have confessed, I was blind to the distinction, so I began by asking my Twitter followers if it meant anything to them. The results were fascinating and instructive. Fascinating because of the emotional heat generated, and instructive because the explanations proffered were so varied, and sometimes contradictory. Here are some of them: "Does 'to be persuaded' imply that a greater change of heart/mind is required than 'to be convinced'?" "For me, 'to persuade' implies the changing of minds, 'to convince' the dispelling of doubts." "They feel different to me. How about this: you persuade someone to do something; you convince someone of something." "I've always seen convince as more concrete/overt; persuade as more machiavellian(= Machiavellian [ˌmækiəˈveliən] using clever tricks and dishonest methods to achieve an aim, especially in politics. Attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics or in advancing one's career. Iago is the Machiavellian antagonist in William Shakespeare's play, Othello. II. Related to the philosophical system of Niccolò Machiavelli.). Convince by argument, persuade by appeal. Or to put it another way, an argument could be persuasive but not convincing if it was appealing but lacked some hard evidence." With my head spinning头晕了, 脑袋乱了, I reached for some reference books. The 19th-century scholar Richard Grant White – whose views on the subject shaped the 20th-century debate – begins by reminding us that the use of persuade to mean a change of mind is well established in the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Undeterred不服输的, 不气馁的, however, by historical precedents, White advances an eccentric etymological argument for the idea that people are sometimes persuaded to act against their conviction; he was of the opinion that the realm of changed minds should be the exclusive province of ( province formal a subject that someone knows a lot about or something that only they are responsible for. a subject or area of interest that a person knows about or is involved in. province of 领域 Computers were once the exclusive province of scientists and mathematicians. It's a legal question that is/falls outside my province. [=it does not relate to the area that I know about]. That subject is the special province of this magazine. Study in that area had once been the exclusive/sole province of academics. ) convince. White's influence can be seen in an explanation put forward by Bill Bryson, who states that you convince someone they should believe something, but persuade them to carry out an action – and he declares it is possible to persuade someone to do something without convincing them of the correctness or necessity of doing it. He also alerts us to a grammatical difference: persuade may be followed by an infinitive, but convince may not. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage asserts that persuasion involves a change of belief followed by action – an explanation at odds with Bryson's. Merriam-Webster's entry concludes: "Long ago persuade became established in a use connoting mental acceptance without following action … Persuade still has this use, often with same of and that constructions regularly found with convince. Some time around the middle of the [20th] century, convince began to be used to connote mental acceptance followed by action, usually in a construction in which an infinitive phrase follows the verb. This construction is now a fully established idiom. The earlier usage writers who tried to fence off persuade from convince and the later ones who tried to fence off convince from persuade have failed alike. And in another generation perhaps no one will care." This entry, which dates from 1994, was prophetic: everything it predicted has come to pass. Two years after its publication, an overwhelming majority of the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary accepted the use of convince with an infinitive; and even the current online OED entry accepts that the usage "is well established". In this instance – where the horse has already bolted – Heffer's logical approach draws a blank(I. Fig. to get no response; to find nothing. I asked him about Tom's financial problems, and I just drew a blank. We looked in the files for an hour, but we drew a blank. II. 脑筋一片空白 Fig. to fail to remember something. to be unable to get information, think of something, or achieve something. Ask them about the car's performance and you'll draw a blank. We've asked 2000 schools to join the campaign, but so far we've drawn a blank. (= none of them agreed). I tried to remember her telephone number, but I could only draw a blank. It was a very hard test with just one question to answer, and I drew a blank.). He is mistaken, however, if he thinks the alternative, linguistic democracy, ends in a linguistic free-for-all. In fact, given the inconsistent evidence I have uncovered, I would argue that the wisdom of crowds 群体的智慧, 大众的力量, 群众智慧 ( The wisdom of the crowd is the process of taking into account the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than a single expert to answer a question. A large group's aggregated answers to questions involving quantity estimation, general world knowledge, and spatial reasoning has generally been found to be as good as, and often better than, the answer given by any of the individuals within the group. An intuitive and often-cited explanation for this phenomenon is that there is idiosyncratic noise( idiosyncratic 个人化的 [ˌidiəusɪŋˈkrætɪk] idiosyncratic tendencies are unusual or strange, and not shared by other people. He has some rather idiosyncratic views about what constitutes good television. her own idiosyncratic style of painting. ) associated with each individual judgment, and taking the average over a large number of responses will go some way toward canceling the effect of this noise.) has been vindicated because it has replaced pernickety ( pernickety [pə(r)'nikəti] 吹毛求疵的, 过度注重于细节的(split hair) (chiefly UK) worried or complaining about details that do not matter.Fussy; paying undue attention to minor details; fastidious. persnickety (US) I. Fastidious or fussy. II. 注重于细节的. 强调细节的. Obsessive about mundane details, demanding for precision. ) – and inconsistent – distinctions with clarity. An acceptance of linguistic democracy – as reflected in everyday usage and the corpus ( corpus[ˈkɔ:(r)pəs] I. formal a collection of writing, for example all the writings of one person. II. linguistics a collection of written and spoken language stored on computer and used for language research and writing dictionaries.) – does not mean that those of us who care about language should not take a logical stand on particular points of usage. But the points we choose to defend need to have some life left in them, and the evidence that supports them must be compelling. For example, whenever I hear someone use infer when they should be using imply, I experience a thump in the solar plexus. But I am fortunate because, for the time being at least, dictionaries and books on usage supply me with unambiguous ammunition无可辩驳的支持 in my efforts to argue in favour of their difference. The linguistic battlefield is heaped with ancient carcasses( carcass [ˈkɑ:(r)kəs] 躯壳 I. the body of a dead animal. II. the outside part of a vehicle, building, or other object that is left when the rest of it has been destroyed. ), so it is vital to focus our efforts on the living. There comes a moment when you have to accept that some usages are dying or dead. If I were a betting man赌徒, I would probably put a few quid on the distinction between infer and imply going the same way as that between convince and persuade; but I while I detect the faintest of pulses, I will keep treating the sick and wounded救死扶伤.
